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Far in the state of Sierra mountain range, massive glaciers are vanishing and expected to dissolve completely by the beginning of the coming hundred years, resulting in ice-free peaks for the first time in human history, new research has discovered.

Ancient Origins of Sierra Range Glaciers

The mountain range’s glaciers are more ancient than earlier understood, tracing back tens of thousands of years, with a few as old as the last ice age, according to a report released last week.

“Our pieced-together ice age record indicates that a coming ice-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in the history of humankind since documented settlement of the Americas around twenty thousand years ago,” the study declares.

Worldwide Threat to Ice Formations

Glaciers globally are under threat during the climate emergency. A research released in May of this year found that nearly 40% of glaciers are destined to melt because of global heating. If this warming increases by 2.7C, which the world is presently on course for, as up to seventy-five percent will disappear, causing sea level rise and mass displacement.

Across the American west, ice formations have diminished substantially since they were first documented in the 1800s, according to the article.

Concentration on Major Ice Bodies

The recent study focuses on several Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade ice sheets – that are among the largest and likely most ancient in the range. Their longevity amid climate warming makes them “bellwethers” for studying glacier disappearance in the western region, the article notes.

Study Techniques and Results

Researchers examined recently exposed base rock around the glaciers and took samples to determine how long the area was blanketed by ice. They found that the ice masses have enveloped large areas of the range for far longer than earlier believed – since prior to humans inhabited North America.

California’s glaciers attained their maximum positions as early as 30,000 years ago, the study's researchers stated, and a particular of the glaciers experts studied is thought to have expanded seven thousand years ago, earlier than once thought. The loss of ice formations, for the initial time in human history, shows the dramatic effects of the climate change, one author of the study said.

Environmental and Representational Impact

“We’ll be the initial ones to see the ice-free peaks,” said Andrew Jones, the principal investigator. “This has ecological ramifications for plants and animals. And it’s a representational decline. Climate change is very abstract, but these ice masses are concrete. They’re symbolic elements of the American West.”